5 big VAR calls from Kilmarnock vs Rangers as THREE handball flashpoints sparks ‘weird’ Clement verdict.
The league leaders came back down the M77 with all three points but there were a few mind puzzling decisions.
Philippe Clement condemned the inability to award Rangers a penalty at Rugby Park as WEIRD after Kilmarnock were handed a spot kick for a similar handball incident.
And the confused Belgian’s statements came a mere hours after former top referee Steve Conroy had stated his fears that a judgment by VAR could end up tilting a nip and tuck Scottish Premiership title fight.
The Light Blues dug out a huge three points in Ayrshire after an uninspiring first half performance during which they fell behind early on to a Danny Armstrong penalty after referee David Dickinson penalized John Lundstram. Andrew Dallas was on VAR duty and didn’t perceive it as a clear and apparent error worth sending the guy in the middle to the monitor to review. But then an occurrence at the opposite end late on left Clement confused. The encounter wasn’t aired live on Sky Sports so the experts didn’t give a string of events the normal analysis, but the Kilmarnock TV commentary crew – including ex Rangers player Dave MacKinnon – were also scratching their head at a couple. Here, Record Sport picks out five that were dubious in Gers’ 2-1 triumph.
The Rangers midfielder was found to have touched the ball after Armstrong’s cross into the box cannoned off his arm, with the Killie man converting. It looked an obvious one at the time but ex Ibrox winger Neil McCann wasn’t so convinced and ex ref Bobby Madden agrees. McCann remarked on BBC Sportscene: “I know this is given as a penalty. No hesitation there in pointing to the area. But I don’t think it is. His elbow is tucked in. It’s impact and then the arm comes away. I don’t know what John Lundstram is meant to accomplish with his elbow.” And Madden offered his voice of experience, saying: “At the point of contact the arm is tight to the body and the defender does not make themselves unnaturally bigger. Difficult to understand why a on field review wasn’t suggested.”
Diomande lucky?
Obviously you have to take into account the fact they are working for the club’s TV station but pundit John Barnes and MacKinnon were persuaded that Mohamed Diomande should have seen red for Rangers. It came as Liam Donnelly raced away on the break for Kilmarnock and the Ivorian, who was the last man, dragged him back near the halfway line. The Irishman would have been clean through on Jack Butland. Should he have been handed his marching orders?
In the Nic of time… or not?
Nico Raskin was entered as a replacement for Rangers and had a penalty claim against him when he looked to bundle Liam Donnelly over inside the box. The Belgian quickly held his arms up to protest his innocence but he could just have got away with one there. Derek McInnes surely thought so. “Anywhere else on the pitch it’s a free-kick,” he remarked. “I’ve only seen one angle from my analysts and it certainly looks like Donnelly’s got the first touch and he’s bundled over. Obviously the VAR folks have greater angles. From the viewpoint I’ve seen it probably could’ve been a penalty but I’m sure they’ve investigated it and if there’s various angles to show it wasn’t, so be it. But I was sad it wasn’t granted, yeah.”
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